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Truss Rod Length – Is there a “rule of thumb”?
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Truss Rod Length – Is there a “rule of thumb”?
Friends – My “go-to” truss rod for my basses has been the rod sold by LMII; however, since they are now out of business, I am evaluating what other rods are suitable for bass guitar necks. The attached photos are all showing truss rod lengths from the front edge of the nut slot location on the blank. One photo shows my last LMII rod (23 1/2″ in length) vs. 2 other rods, one longer (23 11/16″) and one shorter (22 1/4″) — all measured from the front of the nut slot.
I make a standard F-style, 20-fret bass neck with a nut width slightly wider than a standard P Bass (1.73″).
Is there a “rule of thumb” that guides the overall length of the truss rod relative to the length of the neck itself? I am concerned that the shorter rod shown is too short and that the longer one may actually be too long for this length neck blank. Does it matter for a bolt-on neck since the heel is fixed to the body anyway?
Am I over-thinking this or not?? 😉
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2 Replies
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I think that the 22.25 is fine to run. It lands over the neck pocket and those last few frets are getting sanded down to create a fall off anyway. Have you ever thought about changing the design and using a spoke wheel truss rod? That’s what I prefer for a few reasons.
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Thanks for the good advice, Peter. I have not tried the spoke wheel truss rods yet – is there a particular one you have had success using? I would need to modify my templates for this as well, as you likely know.
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